#his character is named Pierre if you're curious

[thelostgirl21]

So...

Was anyone going to tell me Joey Batey could go completely feral with a sword, or was I supposed to find out on my own?!

Also, anyone else here suddenly wants The Witcher to include a "fantasy sequence" where Jaskier is narrating some of his and Geralt's adventures, and there's a bit where Geralt is injured, so Jaskier just ends up grabbing one of his swords and either heroically defeating the monster himself, or fighting back against a small army?

And we're, like, visually shown that epic fight until someone calls bullshit, and they show that either the monster was already about to drop dead (and fell to the floor before Jaskier had the chance to actually do anything with the sword), or there was a single guy left, and Jaskier just knocked him out from behind or something.

I mean having a guy that's freaking trained in fencing, kick boxing, medieval sword fighting, and stage combat (according to IMDb) on a fantasy show like "The Witcher", with all those awesome fight choreographers, and not having him show off those fighting skills at least once feels like such a waste!

I get that Jaskier can't fight like that, but COME ON! He'd totally be able to imagine it!

It's the whole point of poetry, damnit! It doesn't have to be real!

And I've just discovered that archers have a nasty habit of thinking he makes a good target.

[jurakan]

Is it too late for a fun fact? If so I’ll come back next week!

Almost! I was going to go to bed soon, but not yet! So! Today You Learned about the origin of Saint Bernard dogs!

Named after Saint Bernard of Menthon (NOT Saint Bernard of Clairvaux), who ran a guest house in Switzerland to help travelers--and it's still there, if you're curious. The staff there made a habit of breeding dogs. But they weren't originally rescue dogs, they were guard dogs. See, the guest house was built to protect travelers from bandits who often preyed on travelers in mountain passes, so the staff wanted big, tough dogs that could scare or fight off anyone who wanted to rob the guests. They worked out that the dog's hardiness made it a good rescue dog, though, and so it became that!

Dogs are not trained by the staff to rescue people, though; they learn their trade from the older dogs, weirdly enough. And they've been at it for centuries, adapting to slightly different roles. Apparently, the Saint Bernards helped deliver supplies in the Italian mountains during World War I?

The recent Pillar article that talks about this mentions the famous dog Barry, who apparently saved dozens of lives in his work (and his taxidermied body is on display in a museum in Bern). Another famous one was Rutor, who was the companion to Benedictine monk (and amateur scientist!) Pierre Chanoux.

Also! J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, had a Saint Bernard named 'Porthos', after the Three Musketeers character.

[phytocondria]

A Rocky Start

It's Anniversary time for Grapefruit Sky. We were each assigned a character for our OCs to interact with, and I got George. Hope you all enjoy.

Word count: 1.3k

Summary: Lily and George didn't exactly have the smoothest start

Lily had taken to checking the bulletin board in front of Pierre’s, most afternoons she hadn’t been reduced to a mound atop her couch from working the farm. She was still dipping more into her savings than the profits off her grandfather's farm, so if she could do the odd job to offset what was hopefully only a temporary money sink, she knew it was what she should do. Fishing requests weren’t her favorite. It made for a good excuse to enjoy the scenery, but Lily wasn’t and would never be the best angler around. But, there were more annoying fish than carp and if it was for Evelyn. Spending time up the mountain lake wasn’t the worst way to waste the afternoon. Plus, if she was lucky, maybe she’d wrangle herself a consolation prize even if the fish weren’t interested in her.

By late afternoon, Lily was pleased as punch with herself. Not only had she gotten the carp for the request, but enough for her own dinner tonight, and the promise of a little treat later tonight too. Just as she was about to knock on the painted, green door of her most recent request giver, she was startled by a voice crying out  suddenly.

“Whatever you're selling, we ain’t buying.” it ordered in a gruff, croak. Finding an elderly gentleman was wheeling himself over, Lily stepped aside to make room for him without thinking of the direction. Nearly knocking the planter down where it hung, she hit her head against the clay pot after ducking down just half a second too slowly and swallowed down any expletives with a squeak.

“I’m no-, well, no. I suppose I am selling, but it was a request on the board. Didn’t realize the town gets so many door to door salesmen. Farm must be too far outta the way for them.” Lily explained, rubbing the spot on her head absently and trying to joke. Lifting the fish Lily had managed to save from falling into the dirt earlier, she mustered a smile more amused than it was, towards the gentleman while trying to prove the validity of her first statement.

“Oh, you’re Esaiah’s lot.” 

”Easaih was my grandfather if that’s what you mean. I moved in recently and I’m hoping to fix the place up.” she confirmed, extending a hand out to him. “I’m Miss Field’s by the way.” she added, keeping a passive smile on her lips.

“Hmmph... It's irritating to have to meet all these new people, huh?”

Lily remained quiet, keeping her hand extended. The small tilt of her head was the only acknowledgement she'd heard his question while maintaining a well-practiced, professional smile on her lips.

“Name's George, by the way. Now buzz off... Hmmph” he added, reaching for the front door knob. Thankfully Lily didn’t have to worry about how she was going to hold her position in the their stalemate, when the front door open up. Evelyn stood in the doorway, curious about the commotion happening outside, first spotting her husband before her.

Lily quickly turned her attention to the woman. The smile easier now that it was directed to the woman she'd been seeking out anyway

“Sorry, for the commotion Miss Evelyn-”

“Missus.” George corrected “Hmph, I’m sure Evi’s already told ya’ to call her Granny anyways” it seemed every other sentence began or ended with a humph with him.

”Oh, Lily, it’s a pleasure to see you pop by. You must has seen my note in Pierre’s!” she noted, spotting the catch in her hand. 

"Yup, about as fresh as you can get them." Lily promised as she beamed happily at Evelyn's warm welcome. Her footing feeling firm again, she replied to one George's earlier statements. "And if I call her Granny, does that mean I should call you Gramps?” Lilith prodded, remaining as placid and light as ever while George grumbled and made his way inside. Clearly the title didn't come as a set.

“Now don’t you mind George, he’s just cranky the Doctor told him he needed to cut back on the red meat. I'm sure he was hoping to scare you away so I couldn't try out Jodi's Carp Surprise recipe." 

”What does he know anyways. Does he expect me to eat bean steaks now?

”Oh, hush. Dr. Harvey only suggested that tofu has an alternative, but he also said fish and seafood were good options.”

”Hrumph”

”Now, come in. I just need to get my purse and I'll start dinner right after." Evelyn seemed to direct the last part of her statement to George. A subtle martial threat that he wouldn't be getting his way that soothed any of ruffled feathers on Lily's part. "And feel free to call me whatever you're comfortable with dear."

“Then how about Auntie Evelyn?”

"Oh my, I don’t think I’ve been called auntie since my nieces were little." Eveyln giggled, seemingly pleased at the compromise. Lily thought it suited the sweet, elderly lady perfectly and she was happy Evelyn has accepted it.

Surprisingly when she left to get the payment for Lily's services, the air between George and Lily didn't seem as tense or hostile.

“So, you’re names Lily, huh? Don’t suppose that’s short for Lilith?”

Lily's composure broke for a moment as she tried not to gawked in surprise. No one had ever guessed her name correctly, always assuming it was the more common Lillian or even assuming there was no longer version to her name. Still, she was quick to regain control before answering. “Actually, yes. It is. How did you know Lily was short for Lilith?”

”You got your Gran’s eyes and nose. Guessed you were given her name, just missing the haughty princess look to go with it." Again, Lily was taken aback by George's words. Having her grandmother's eyes was something she'd been told was true since she was little, but never once had he ever heard the term haughty been used to describe her. Lily truly was named after a mythical woman, just not the one everyone imagined. 

"You knew both my grandparents?" She cautiously questioned.

"Heh, Evi and I have been in Pelican Town our whole lives. Town's too small not to have met 'em once our twice."

Lilith stood there, taking in the information and strangely accepted it all to be truer than not.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

An oddly fitting line, it seemed to perfectly describe Pelican Town’s longest standing couple. It was hard not to instantly love Evelyn. Every interaction with her came with offers of a warm drink, a freshly baked treat, and comfortable, idle chatter. Yes, Evelyn was certainly the sugar, which made George the medicine, but Lilith found she didn't always have to struggle to swallow it down.

Evelyn reminisced. Told wishful stories of old friends and fond memories of times gone by. It was sweet and went well with time spent at her little kitchen with mugs of tea or coffees and her latest baking creation. George told less stories at first, but he allowed her to sit nearby while his novellas played and when he did tell them, there was a snideness and a frankness that spoke to its validity. George told stories of unpaid poker debts Lewis still owed to her grandpa. Spoke of him as a fool falling for the friend's daughter of a mine owner. The miracle of a proud beauty succumbing to something he never understood. Sweeter stories Lily had been told in her youth filling the gaps of his more cynical tales. She even noticed his stories were often softer, or it's harshness directed towards villains in stories including Auntie Evi. And sometimes, after a while, some of those stories were even sincere and cherished.

[atrixfromice]

Hi there folks!

Today I've been done some silly sketches, not much stuff I feel proud of to share. But I made this one!

It's a fanart of Monsieur Pierre from the French cartoon show "Les contes de la rue Broca" (based on a book with the same name) a show I loved to watch with my brothers and sister when I was a kid, and a great part of my teens too, until it was canceled sadly, because it wasn't popular.

The show featured a lot of histories with fairytale creatures mermaids, fairies, elfs, etc. And monsieur Pierre was the narrator there, the one who told the stories, but sometimes he participated in them too.

He always went to buy his groceries to the same corner store whose owner was a guy with two kiddos, whom he tells the stories to.

This characters, I think what I liked the most from him was (appart of his voice of course) that he was always so courteous, nice and friendly with everyone!

I remember being a kiddo and admiring that. Because I stopped to think he could have a bad day one day, an awful day where he could have mis his bus to work, lost his groceries and his house could have been robbed. Because everybody can have a good day or difficult moments.

And it just impressed me how every time the kids at the grocery store told him "tell us a story monsieur Pierre ! " he never said "no kids, not today! Go bother your father!" or something like that with a frowned face. At contraire, he always had a warm smile and a fairy tale to tell with a great life lesson, no matter what happened around him.

And I remember having thought

"I want this."

"I want this for my personality! I so wanna be like him!!!"

And since then I try my best to offer a warm smile and be courteous and friendly with people even if my life is awful and I'm passing through difficult moments.

Now I'm an adult I know probably the character was like that because he needed to since he was the narrator, and I was just a weird kiddo who overanalyzed everything XD

But still! It was a cool personally trait I still admire and I still try to have on me ^^

Plus he was like me on the part he had a lot of skills to create stories. It was very fun to me how sometimes he saw an object or something like that and he said "Hey this reminds me of a story!" and start to tell a story. When I was younger I used to write a lot of stories and narrated them to my brothers and sister as bedtime tales *chuckles*

Oh and his voice is super cool!! :D

First I watched the show in Spanish from Mexico, and later when I learned French I started to watch it in French, and in both of these versions his voice is awesome! So elegant, manly and heartwarming, perfect for a narrator!

I don't know if it was aired on English-speaking countries so not sure if it's in English, but here I have a video of the French version so you can see his voice in French if you're curious.

I recommend very much this show for kids and the family in general cos it doesn't have swear words or vulgar content. And it has a lot of very useful and valuable life lessons withing the stories.